Solitude
by Sanguin
Summary: A story of isolation in the halls of Hogwarts
1. Prelude

No one in the Renwick family ever suspected that Jonathan was a wizard.   
  
In his eleven years of life he never showed any signs of having any magical ability.   
If he did show signs, there would be no one around to see it occur.   
He liked to spend his time in his room alone reading books or practicing any musical   
instrument he could get his hands on. He preferred being part  
of the social activities of the characters in the stories he read than interacting  
with the people in his world. Years from now his parents would comment that they wished  
they would have made him attend more social functions. They feel that they are to blame  
for the person he became. Jonathan would disagree.  
  
Receiving the letter was like a divine gift to Jonathan. He had always wished for a   
magical world to exist for him live in. The thought of him going to a magic oriented   
school gave him more pleasure due to him hating his current school. The children there   
thought of him as odd and avoided him. He had no friends there. Everyday at school he   
would just daydream about returning to his books at home. Fortunately, the classes he   
took at school were easy for him and his grades never suffered. He would have been   
more interested if the school were to offer classes on his favorite subject. Magic  
  
He had always been interested in magic. He was always trying to find any book he could   
on the subject. But, finding books on magic in a small town in 1784 can be quite difficult.   
When he was lucky enough to find one of the books he would devour it in several days.   
When he wasn't so lucky he would just reread the same books he already owned.   
He read and read and read hoping to find a glimpse of what might be out there. He had   
always thought that there was more to life even though everyone told him there was only   
heaven and hell. The letter in his hand told him otherwise.  
  
He looked up from the leter when he heard his mother enter the room. She sat down  
next to him.   
  
"What are you thinking about?"   
  
Jonathan looked up from the letter and asked "I am wondering why I was chosen and   
why no one ever told me this school or the magical world exists?"   
  
"Why you were chosen?" she asked looking at him curiously.   
  
"You are a wizard. In the back of our minds we knew you were one. We chose to ignore   
it hoping that you were not one, " she answered.  
  
He looked at her with a look on his face similar to that of a person who was   
just given a handfull of horse manure.   
  
She sensed that she just insulted him and said "There is a large responsibility   
in raising someone who is magical. You never know if they are going to disappear   
and reappear on the other side of town or turn someone in the family into a toad   
if they upset them. Since you showed no signs of being magical we decided it would   
be better to wait until you were old enough to tell you about that other side of life."   
  
"Does everyone else know about this?" he asked.   
  
"No, " she replied, "your father and I are the only ones in the family that know.   
Your great grandmother was a witch and attended Hogwarts when she was your age.   
As far as we know you and your great grandmother are the only magical people our   
family has ever had."   
  
She looked out the window, saw the moon in the sky and said "it is getting late and   
you must get to bed. You will have a long day ahead of you tomorrow. We will have to get up   
early to get your school supplies." She stands up and kisses him on the forhead   
and tells him goodnight. "Good night," he said as he climbed into bed. He fell   
asleep smiling. 


	2. Diagon Alley

The next day started abruptly for Jonathan, when his mother opened the shutters  
to his bedroom window. The sun light woke him with an intensity similar to being  
slapped by an infuriated sun god. As he sat up in his bed, rubbing his eyes,  
he tried to remember what his mother had just said to him before she left his room.  
She was probably telling him to get dressed and come to breakfast, but he was  
too preoccupied with the news he had recevied the day before to pay attention.  
  
He got out of his bed and walked over to a large mirror that hung on one of his   
bedroom walls. It was one of a few pieces of furniture that he had in his small,   
but comfortable room. The other furniture he had included his bed, a desk, chair,   
and a large wooden bookshelf. The shelf was full of books that he had collected   
over the years and was his pride and joy. Most of the books he had owned were   
about magic and the rest were either historical or works of fiction. What he did   
not know was that some of the books on magic that he owned actually came from the   
wizarding world. Some of them were even made to appear before him in book shops   
so they were easy to find. For him to become a knowledgable and experienced wizard   
was in the interest of some people in the magical community.  
  
He looked at his reflection in the mirror trying to find some sign he had never  
seen before signifying that he was indeed a wizard. Even though he had the letter  
as proof, he still had some lingering doubt. So there he stood, staring at the  
face of an eleven year old boy with short brown hair and grey eyes, trying to   
find the clue that told him he was a wizard.   
  
He gave up the search after several minutes and got dressed. He left his bedroom  
and went to the dining room for breakfast.  
  
"Good morning dear," his mother said to him, while putting a plate of food onto  
the table.  
  
He smiled at her, sat down at the table and began to eat.   
  
"The carriage should be here by the time we are done with breakfast," she said  
to him as she sat down to eat as well. His mother liked to take her time eating  
which never bothered Jonathan before, except for today. It felt like the Christmas  
dinners that he and his and cousins would have to endure before they could  
open their presents.   
  
When they were finished eating, they said goodbye to the rest of the family  
and climbed into a carriage that was waiting for them outside. It was a medium  
sized carriage that was being driven by a large, burly man.   
  
"An' where would you like to be taken to today ma'am?" the driver asked.  
  
Jonathan's mother leaned out of the carriage and said, "we would like to go  
to Charing Cross Road in London, please." She sat back down in the carriage and they  
felt the pull of the horses taking them down the road.  
  
The sky that day was clear and the air was cool and pleasant. Unfortunately,   
the smells that came from the small town where they lived were not and were   
sometimes hard to describe. Jonathan was happy to escape the small town and   
was looking forward to the ride in the country. He was also looking forward   
to being in London and going to some place that sold magical items. He imagined   
that the place would be some large building that had everything from wands to   
ingredients for spells.   
  
He then realized that he did not know where they were going.  
  
"Do you know where we are supposed to go to get my school supplies?" he asked.  
  
"We are going to a pub on Charing Cross Road called the Leaky Cauldron.  
It is supposed to be the entrance to a place called Diagon Alley, " she told him.  
With a look of surprise, she said to him, "I am surprised that you did not know  
this. The directions were written on a page in your invitation. You had it in your  
hands for the entire evening."  
  
He realized that the whole time that he had been holding the letter and looking at  
it, he had never read it. His face became rather red with embarrassment.  
  
"I think that I spent the time thinking about what the letter said I am, that I  
actually never read it, " he told her.  
  
"That is all right, " she said. "I guess that learning that you are a wizard  
would be an an odd experience and could take a bit of time to accept and   
understand."  
  
He shrugged and read the invitation. He found that it contained three pages.  
The first page was the official inviation. The second page was the listing  
of the school supplies he would be needing to buy at Diagon Alley. The third   
page contained a set of instructions on how to get to Diagon Alley for his supplies  
and to King's Cross when he needed to leave for school. He returned the pages to the   
envelope and stared at the countryside.  
  
The time in the carriage seemed to drag on forever and the scenery of the   
countryside never seemed to change. He had forgotted how long and boring the   
trips to London were. Just when he thought that there would be no end to the   
country road he could see London before him. The town was still as he remembered   
it from the last time they were there. A lot of buildings and and a lot of people   
hurriedly going from one place to another.   
  
A short while later they were at Charing Cross.  
  
When Jonathan's mother realized where they were at, she leaned out of the carriage  
and called out to the driver.  
  
"We would like to be let out at a pub called the Leaky Cauldron, " she yelled trying  
to stabilize herself in the rocking carriage.  
  
"I'm sorry ma'm, I don't know of any pub called the Leaky Cauldron," he yelled back.  
  
"We were told to go to a pub called the Leaky Cauldron at Charing Cross Road, "  
she yelled.  
  
"I've lived here for twenty years and have never heard of the place, " he said.  
  
She sat down in the carriage with a look of panic and disbelief. "I am sure that  
the letter specifically said to go to the Leaky Cauldron at Charing Cross Road, "  
she said to herself. She took the invitation from Jonathan and looked at it.  
She reread it several times hoping to find some error, but could not find any.  
Satisfied that the letter was correct, Jonathan looked out the window and saw a  
sign for the aforementioned and missing pub.  
  
"There it is, " he said, pulling his mother's attention away from the letter and pointing  
out the carriage.  
  
"I don't see it, " she told him, while looking at all of the buildings. "All I see is  
a book shop."  
  
"It is right there," he said. "Right next to the book shop."  
  
He could tell that she could not see the pub and that she was starting to become  
agitated. He guessed that since he was a wizard he was probably able to   
see things she wasn't able to see.  
  
"Mum, " he said. "You have to trust me. I think it might be something only  
magical people can see."  
  
She seemed to have taken offense at the comment, but decided to trust him.  
She leaned out of the carriage again and yelled, "driver, could you please  
let us out over at that book store?" The driver nodded and led the horses  
over to the store. He helped them out of the carriage. As he was driving  
away they heard him muttering something about small town folk not being all there.  
  
She followed Jonathan to the area next to the book store and said, "I still  
do not see it. Are you sure you are not toying with--" Her words stopped abruptly  
when she saw Jonathan open a door she had not seen before. She stopped  
and shook her head in disbelief trying to make sense of what she had just seen.  
  
They walked into the Leaky Cauldron and found it to be a small, but cozy pub. There  
were several people in there wearing long, single color robes that were  
having drinks and engaged in conversations. Several of them stopped talking  
just long enough to stare at them. Jonathan waved to them and said hi.   
Some of them nodded and returned to their conversations.   
  
From behind the bar, a rather tall and stout bartender called out to them.  
"Hello, how can I help you?" he asked, as he was putting some glasses in a  
cabinet. His robes were an odd sight. There appeared to be stains on them  
that must have come from magical drinks. Some of the stains were glowing  
and others appeared to be changing color as he moved.  
  
"We are looking for a place called Diagon Alley. We were told that it could  
be found here, " she told the bartender.  
  
"That is correct, ma'am," he said. "I can see that you are here to buy school  
supplies for your son."  
  
"Yes, that it is why we are here," she said. "How do we get there? The instructions   
did not tell us the specifics of finding it."  
  
"If you will please follow me, I can take you there." He put another glass away and  
came out from behind the bar.  
  
"Thank you, " she said.  
  
As they started walking towards the back of the pub, Jonathan saw that some  
of the people there were staring at him as they were passed. It unnerved  
him a bit. There was something unfriendly about the way they kept looking  
at him. He smiled and they stopped looking at him. That seemed to  
have satisfied them.  
  
The bartender led them out to the back of the pub into a small courtyard.  
He walked up to one of the walls and pulled a long wooden wand from   
his robe. He tapped a brick several times and as a an archway appeared, Jonathan's  
mouth dropped in sheer amazement. He had never seen anything like that before.  
He looked up at his mother and saw that she too shared the same reaction.  
Before they could start walking through the archway, the bartender stopped them.  
  
"The first thing you will want to do is go to the local bank called Gringotts  
to exchange you money for wizard money. It is a little ways down the street.   
Just look for a large white marble building, " he said.  
  
"Thank you, " she said to the bartender as they passed through the archway.   
  
What Jonathan saw as they entered Diagon Alley went far beyond what  
he was expecting. There were many shops lining the street offering a  
multitude of magical items. He saw a shop that was selling robes, another  
shop that had floating broomsticks, and a shop that sold a large assortment  
of books. He wanted to go to every shop there to look at and touch everything.  
His mother could sense the excitement flowing through his veins.  
  
"We need to exchange some money and buy your supplies before you  
can run around and explore."  
Jonathan's face was suddenly full of disappointment, like someone having  
a really tasty piece of food offered to them, but to have it taken away suddenly.  
On second thought, he was not really that hungry at the time.  
  
As they continued walking down the street looking for Gringotts, Jonathan  
noticed that even more people were giving him strange looks. At one point  
he saw a lady pull her children into a nearby shop. It seems that she was  
trying to hide her children from him. Fortunately, there were other people  
there that did not stare at him strangely or hide their children. They would  
greet Jonathan and his mother with wide smiles and wave. This helped   
even out his mood to a nice, calm demeanor.  
  
After several more minutes of walking they finally came upon Gringotts.  
It was indeed a very large building. As they started walking up the stairs  
to the building, his mother stopped and let out a tiny shriek.   
  
"What is that?" she asked, pointing to a creature that stood guarding the entrance.  
  
"I think that is a goblin. I've read about them in some folk tales. I don't  
think they will hurt us," he said trying to calm her.  
  
He grabbed her hand and sher towards the entrance. The goblins there bowed   
as they opened the door to let them enter. As they passed through the doors,   
his mother tried as hard as she could to avoid any contact with the goblins.   
After they passed through the second set of doors they entered a spacious   
room filled with more goblins and long counters where they worked.  
  
When Jonathan finished examining the area, he turned to one of the goblins   
that was nearby asked it where the area to exchange money is at. The goblin   
pointed to a counter and they walked to it.   
  
"I would like to exchange some money, " his mother told the goblin sitting   
at the table. The goblin just sat there and stared at her. She decided not to try   
and ask the goblin any more questions and took some money out of her purse   
and set it on the table. The goblin took the money and counted some rather strange  
looking coins and placed them on the table. She took the coins and put them   
in her purse. She grabbed Jonathan's hand and quickly led him out of Gringotts.  
  
Once they were outside she let out a deep sigh of relief. She took several  
long, slow breaths and regained her composure.  
  
"Ok. What is the first item on the list?" she asked.  
  
Jonathan opened the envelope and took out the page with the supply list.  
His face brightened as he saw that the first item listed was.  
"A wand, " he said.   
He had always wanted a wand ever since he had  
read about them in his books at home.  
"Did you see any wand shops when we walking to the bank?" she asked, while  
looking at all of the shop signs.  
  
"No. I guess we will need to ask somone"  
  
Jonathan walked up to a wizard in blue robes. "Excuse me," he said. "Is there any  
shop around here that sells wands?"  
  
The wizard smiled and pointed to a shop that was not that far down the street.  
"It is called Ollivander's. They sell some of the best wands ever made."  
  
Jonathan thanked the wizard and walked to the wand shop.  
  
When they entered they found the shop to be very small and empty.   
A short, skinny man, who seemed to have appeared from nowhere,   
approached them. He had long grey hair and was wearing green robes.  
  
"Good day," he said. "I'm Mr. Ollivander. Are you here to buy a wand?"  
  
"Yes," Jonathan answered.  
  
"Good," said the Mr. Ollivander. "Tell me, which hand is your wand hand?"  
  
"Left, I think."  
  
Mr. Ollivander pulled a ruler from his robes and begin measuring Jonathan's  
arm and a good majority of his upper torso. Jonathan found this quite  
odd. After he was done measuring Jonathan, he put the ruler back in to  
his robe and left the room. He came back with a wand in his hand and  
handed it to Jonathan.  
  
"Try this one, please. It is a 10 inch mahogany wand with a piece of unicorn tail."  
  
"What do I do?" asked Jonathan.  
  
"Just wave it around."  
  
Jonathan waved the wand around and nothing happened. Looking disappointed,  
Jonathan handed the wand back to Mr. Ollivander. Mr. Ollivander left the room  
and came back with another wand and handed it to Jonathan.  
  
"This one is a 9 inch maple wand with a piece of unicorn tail."  
  
Jonathan waved the wand around and once again nothing happened. He handed  
the wand back to Mr. Ollivander. He started worrying that none of the wands  
would work for him and he would have to return home wandless. Mr. Ollivander  
left the room again and came back with another wand.  
  
"This one is made from ash wood and has a heartstring from a dragon, " he said  
as he handed the wand to Jonathan. When Jonathan held the wand in his hand,  
he felt a strange sensation running through his arm. A light green glow slowly started  
to emanate from the wand. As he raised it above his head, he paused and brought it   
down in one smooth motion. A large green flame shot out of the tip. He felt a surge  
of power as he did this. The flame seemed to dissipate when he relaxed his left hand   
as he brought the wand to a stop. The feeling slowly subsided and he was left with   
mixed feelings. He was pleased that he was able to make the wand work, but was felt   
odd due to the sensation it left him.  
  
Mr. Ollivander looked at him strangely. He seemed somewhat confused.  
"That was rather odd," he said. "I have never seen a wand do that before  
for a customer." He stood there thinking. "I would like for you to try some more  
wands before I make any final decision."  
  
He took the wand from Jonathan and went to fetch another. About 30 wands later,  
Jonathan emerged from Mr. Ollivander's shop carrying the third wand he was  
only successful with. Despite having the odd sensations, he was very happy  
to have his own wand.   
  
"What is next on the list?", his mother asked him, still holding the look of amazement  
and confusion knowing that her son just shot a large green flame out of a wand.  
  
He took out the list and found that the course books were the next item to purchase.  
Finding the shop was much easier for them since they remebered passing it on the way  
to Gringotts. When they arrived at the book shop, they began searching for the  
different books listed. After Jonathan had found the fourth book, 'A Standard Book  
of Spells', he noticed that a book was drawing his attention away from the other  
books surrounding it. He pulled the book from the shelf and read the title.  
It was called 'A History and Source Book for Uncommon Spells'.  
  
He opened the book and found that it contained spells to give people the ability  
to see into other worlds and other such strange powers.  
  
"That is odd," said a voice behind Jonathan that made him jump. A person who  
appeared the be the store owner walked up to him.  
  
"What is odd?" Jonathan asked.  
  
"That book you are holding. I have not seen a copy of it for about thirty years."  
  
"Can I still buy it?" Jonathan asked.  
  
"If you found it on one of these shelves you can buy it," the owner replied.  
  
Jonathan thanked the owner and went to go find the other books he needed.  
Ten minutes later, he and his mother left the store with arms full of books to go   
buy him the rest of his school supplies.  
  
After buying the rest of his supplies, which consisted of robes, a hat, cloak, gloves,   
and a cauldron, they sat down at a nearby bench to rest their feet.  
  
"Is there anything else left?" she asked, while stretching her legs.  
  
"We bought all of the required items that were on the list. The only thing left  
that is recommended is an owl."  
  
"An owl?" she asked.  
  
"That is what it says here. I am not sure why though. I think we passed a place that  
sells animals back there," he said turning his head to point where he thought the   
store was.  
  
"Well," she said. "Let's go buy you an owl."  
  
They stood up, gathered the supplies, and went to the animal shop.  
Once inside, they found the shop to be smelly and full of cages housing many  
different types of animals. They saw owls, cats, dogs, and bats.  
  
"May I help you?" asked the lady who appeared to own the place.  
  
"I would like to buy my an owl for my son, please."   
  
"Choose which one you would like," said the owner, pointing to a row of cages.  
  
When Jonathan approached the cages he saw that many of the owls were huddled  
at the back of the cages as if they were frightened of him. They wouldn't move.   
All of them appeared to be hiding in the back, except one. He was a large brown owl   
with deep, large eyes. He hooted softly at Jonathan as he went closer to the cage.  
  
"I want that one," said Jonathan, pointing to the owl.  
  
"Good choice, " said the lady. "He is a very strong and willful owl. He will be   
of great service to you."  
  
"What service do they provide?" asked Jonathan's mother.  
  
"They are one of our main forms of communication. Just attach a note to  
one of their legs and they will deliver it to whomever you wish to send it to."  
  
"How inventive," said his mother as she paid for the owl.  
  
They left the store with their hands completely full and legs competely  
tired.  
  
"Is there anything else you would like to do while we are here?" she asked.  
"I would like to eat. I am starving," he replied.  
  
"Me too," she said. "Hopefully there is a restaraunt nearby."  
  
They found a restaurant close to the book shop and ate what they   
found to be the best fish they ever had in their life. As they sat  
there eating a young girl and her mother walked by. The young girl, as Jonathan  
saw had bright red hair and was very pretty, waved to him and said hi.  
Jonathan waved back as his face was turning redder than the girl's hair.  
As she disappeared from their view, he secretly hoped he might see her again.  
  
"It is about time that we head home," his mother said.  
  
Jonathan was sad that he had to leave, but he knew he would be glad when he  
was home. As Jonathan was gathering his supplies his mother paid the restaurant  
owner and came back to help him. As they left Diagon Alley he noticed more people   
giving him strange looks again, but was too tired to really care. When they were outside  
the Leaky Cauldron, Jonathan noticed that everything seemed rather mundane.   
All the people that were there were wearing the usual clothes he had seen all his   
life and all the shops carried items that were of no interest to him.  
  
They loaded all of the supplies into a carriage, with the help of a very  
confused driver. Apparently he had never seen people arrive from  
a shopping trip with numerous books and an owl. This made Jonathan and his mother  
laugh.   
  
As they were leaving London, Jonathan thought about the day he just had  
and the days to come before he heads to Hogwarts.   
  
He slept all the way back home. 


	3. Journey

The weeks that passed since Jonathan returned from Diagon Alley were frustrating  
and often times strange. Every once and a while when he and his family went into town,  
he noticed people in robes appear from out of nowhere and watch him. Occasionally,   
some of them would wave, while others would just stare at him. Every time that he   
tried to approach one of them, that person would shake their head and disappear.   
This became tiresome to him after awhile, because he felt that they were the only   
ones he would be able to talk to about magic. Most of his frustration stemmed from   
this. He did not have any friends to share his newfound discovery with and he could   
not talk to his family about it either. Even his mother would change the subject   
whenever he tried to talk about it. He also had a problem when trying to talk to   
his owl, which he decided to name Table. All it would do is hoot at him when he   
asked it anything. Their conversations were  
rather short.  
  
Another source of frustration for him was that he could not try anything that  
he read in his course books. Every time he picked his wand, he would hear  
the voice of Mr. Ollivander echo in his head. When Jonathan's mother was paying   
for his wand, back when they were in the wand shop at Diagon Alley, Mr. Ollivander   
told him that he would not be able to perform any type of magic outside of Hogwarts   
until he was finished with school. He further explained that there were stiff   
penalties for underage wizards performing magic outside of school. So, whenever   
Jonathan had the desire to try something, he would go back to reading his books   
to try to help curb his desire. It only helped in adding to the intensity of it.  
  
As the weeks passed, Jonathan became so engrossed with his reading, that   
when the night before he was to leave for Hogwarts came, he did not realize it.   
  
"Are you not packed yet?" his mother asked, when she entered his room and  
found him reading.  
  
A look of confusion spread across his face. "Where are we going?" he asked.  
  
"We are taking you to school tomorrow," she replied.   
  
The look of confusion changed into a look of panic when everything started  
to sink in. "Oh no," he said, as he jumped out of his bed and started gathering  
all of his supplies. "I did not know that it was tomorrow."  
  
She patted him on the head and smiled. "Take your time. There is still much  
of the day left and we are in no hurry." As she was leaving his room, she  
saw him running around his room in a panic, trying to pack everything.  
She giggled.  
  
The next morning, Jonathan woke up several hours earlier than he normally  
did, because of a nightmare. He was having a dream that he slept all day and missed   
the ride to Hogwarts and when he tried to get in, they told him he could not enter  
and to never come back. He spent the next several hours making sure that he  
had everything he needed and even repacked three times. When he was sufficiently  
sure that he had everything, he dragged his trunk to the main room of the house  
and began to read.  
  
An hour later his mother woke him up by placing a plate of food in front of  
him very loudly. He sat up and looked out the window, seeing the sun shining off in  
the distance. He suddenly remembered his dream.  
  
"Am I late for school?" he asked, with a note of panic in his voice.  
  
"No," she answered. "It is still early. Now, finish your breakfast and get dressed.  
We will be leaving soon."  
  
When he was finished with his breakfast, he went back to his room and  
got dressed. Once again, he checked the mirror to see if he showed any signs  
of him being a wizard, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Except for the  
owl flying past his window. He ran to the window hoping that it was delivering  
a message to him, but to his dismay, it just kept on flying. With a hint of irritation,  
Table hooted at him.  
  
"I'm sorry, Table. I was just hoping that it was some message for me from anyone,"  
he said, petting him.  
  
He took Table's cage and proceeded to leave his room. He looked back into the room   
for a moment before closing the door for the last time. Minutes later, he and his mother  
were once again in a carriage on their way to London. The weather that day was more  
to Jonathan's liking, it was dark, dreary, and on the verge of raining.   
  
He and his mother did not talk much during their trip. He could sense the sadness   
in her and did not want to contribute to it by talking to her about the school.   
  
When they finally arrived at King's Cross, Jonathan's mother instructed the driver  
to drop them off at the main carriage station. Several minutes later they were at  
the station trying to find the way to Hogwarts.  
  
"Do you see anything?" she asked, peering around trying find any kind of sign  
that mentioned Hogwarts.  
  
"I don't see-", he started to reply, but stopped when he saw a group of children  
all huddled together. "I think they might know," he said, pointing at the them.  
  
As they walked over to the group, Jonathan felt a sudden urge of anxiety wash  
over him. He did not know any of them and was becoming hesitant in approaching  
them. That is, until he recognized one of them as the girl who waved at him  
when he and his mother were in the restaurant back in Diagon Alley. She recognized  
him as well and met him halfway.  
  
"Hi, " she said, smiling.  
  
"Hi, " Jonathan replied in return. "Is this where we are supposed to be to go   
to Hogwarts?"  
  
"Not exactly. We are supposed to be in there," she said, pointing to a brick wall.  
"We are just waiting for them to let us through."  
  
"What do you mean through there?" he asked, looking at the wall with confusion.  
"I don't see any door."  
  
"You have to walk through the wall to get there. Just watch", she said, pointing  
to a couple of the students who happened to be pushing their trunks through  
the wall. "There is nothing to it. All you have to do is simply walk through it."  
  
"Wow," Jonathan said, refocusing his eyes and making sure that he was  
actually seeing the students walking through walls.  
  
"It's time for me to go in. I'll see you again when we are at Hogwarts," she said.  
She stopped and walked back to Jonathan. "I just realized that I do not know your  
name," she said.  
  
"I'm Jonathan", he said.  
  
"Pleased to meet you, Jonathan. I'm Sarah. Bye for now," she said.  
  
Jonathan turned to face his mother who was looking a bit frightened. "Are you ready   
to go in?" he asked.  
  
She grabbed his hands and looked him in the eyes. "Do you mind if just see you  
off here? To be honest I am afraid of trying to walk through walls."  
  
"It's all right," Jonathan said, smiling. He gave her a hug. "I guess the thought  
of doing that can be quite scary." He noticed that almost all of the students  
were now through the wall. "Well, it's time for me to go."  
  
He gave her another hug. "Goodbye, mum. I will miss you," he said.  
She kissed him on the forhead as tears welled up in her eyes.  
  
"Goodbye," she said, wiping her eyes. "Be careful at school and be sure  
to send us messages. We will be watching for your owl."  
  
He gave her one last hug and started pulling his trunk to the wall.  
  
"I love you," she called out to him.  
  
"I love you to," he said as he passed through the wall.  
  
  
He had to stop, once he had reached the other side of the wall to take in the sights  
that were before him. He saw the other students climbing into a long line of  
carriages that appeared to be tied together. He also noticed that at either end  
of the carriage line that there were no horses. He surmised that they must be  
using magic to pull them.  
  
Just as he started walking towards the carriages another wave of anxiety  
overcame him. He did not want to climb into a carriage, to be kicked out by  
some students that did not want him on it. His imagination was going wild.  
While he was picturing a group of children laughing at him and making fun   
of him, he saw a carriage that was unoccupied. He felt a sigh of relief and hurriedly   
pulled his trunk to it.  
  
When he arrived at the carriage, he opened it and pulled his trunk inside.  
He found that the carriage was a lot larger inside than appeared from the outside.  
He settled himself in, pulled out one of his books, and began to read.  
  
Several minutes later, Jonathan lowered his book, as he heard the door to the  
carriage open and saw two older students enter.  
  
"Is it all right if we ride along with you?" one of the students asked him.  
  
"Yes, it's all right" Jonathan replied, as he returned to reading his book.  
  
The two students pulled their trunks into the carriage and sat down in seats  
opposite Jonathan. They were quiet for several minutes before they started  
up a conversation between themselves. Jonathan looked out the window and saw that it   
started raining. He smiled to himself and went back to reading.   
  
Twenty minutes later the carriages started moving.   
  
During the carriage ride, Jonathan could not help in overhearing the conversation  
that the two students were having.  
  
"So, this is your sister's first year?"  
  
"Yeah, I hope she gets put in Ravenclaw. I promised my parents  
that I would look out for her and it would be easier if we were in the same  
house. It would not be bad if she was put in the Gryffindor of Hufflepuff houses  
either. I would be worried if she was put in Slytherin."  
  
"I know what you mean. You can not trust any of them. I have heard rumors  
that most of them end up being dark wizards by the time they leave school."  
  
"I wouldn't doubt that. Did you ever hear about a wizard named Demordan?"  
  
"No. Who is he?  
  
"He was a wizard who was recently arrested for trying to bring about the end of the   
world. Fortunately they stopped him right before he could finish the spell."  
  
"That's scary. Hopefully he will rot in Azkaban and never be released. That just   
goes to show that Slytherin sends out dark wizards."  
  
"Exactly."  
  
Jonathan went back to reading and soon fell asleep.   
  
"Hey, wake up. We're here," said one of the students, as he was shaking Jonathan.  
  
"We are at Hogwarts?" Jonathan asked, as he was rubbing his eyes, trying to focus.  
  
"Yes we are," the student replied, as he was pulling his trunk out of the carriage.  
  
Jonathan waited until both of the students were out of the carriage before he  
got up. He noticed that the sky was dark when he stood up and gathered his  
trunk and cage with Table in it. He pulled his trunk out of the carriage and began  
to look for where he was supposed to go. A tall man in green robes walked up to him.  
  
"Hi, are you a first year?" he asked.  
  
"Yes," Jonathan replied.  
  
"Just leave you things here and follow me," he said.  
  
Jonathan followed him and joined a group of nervous looking first years. At the  
other side of the group he saw Sarah again. She waved at him and smiled. Feeling  
his face go red, he waved back.  
  
"All right, first years. Follow me, " said the tall man.  
  
He led them to a lake that stretched out before the castle. Jonathan had seen castles  
before, but had never seen any castle as grand as this one. As he was marvelling  
at the castle, he and the other students were led to a set of boats in the water.  
Once they were all in the boats, they were gently pulled to the other side of the lake  
and escorted to the main entrance of Hogwarts.  
  
Jonathan couldn't help but enjoy the beauty Hogwarts architecture, from the  
large entryway to the grandness of the great hall. He admired the way the ceiling  
of the great hall reflected the sky as it was outside.  
  
"Greetings, first years," said a man, wearing black robes, as he approached them."Before   
we let you join the other students, you will each be sorted into one of the   
four houses here. They are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin.  
If you will please wait here, we will be back soon to start the sorting."  
  
Jonathan began to feel the anxiety swell again, but was sure that most of the first  
years we're probably feeling it as well. He could hear some of the first years theorizing  
as to what happens during the sorting. Everything ranging from drawing blood from  
the students to having them fight a giant. Jonathan felt that they probably would not  
go to such extremes to choose a house for the students.  
  
Several minutes later, the man returned carrying an old, patched hat, which he placed  
on a stool in the middle of the hall. A tear, whichturned out to be the hat's mouth,   
opened up in the hat, and it sang. As the hat sung, Jonathan learned about each of the   
four houses in Hogwarts and the qualities attributed to each.  
  
"When you hear your name called, approach the stool and put the hat on your head.  
It will tell you which house you are to be in," the man said."After you have been  
sorted, please go to the appropriate table."  
  
Jonathan watched as each student was called to the hat. He could see the nervousness  
on their faces even after they were sorted. At one point, he heard Sarah's name and  
watch as she was chosen to join Gryffindor.  
  
It felt like the list of names was endless, but when he thought they would never   
call his name, he heard it.  
  
"Jonathan Renwick."  
  
Feeling his heart pounding in his chest, he slowly walked away from the remaining  
first years and made his way towards the hat. He could feel the eyes of everyone  
there on him. The weight of their stare made him want to shout at them to make  
them stop looking at him. He felt as if his feet were becoming heavier with each step.  
  
"It will be all right, just put the hat on and it will be over with." he told himself.  
  
When he reached the stool, he paused and took a deep breath. He picked up the  
hat and sat down on the stool. With all eyes upon him he put the hat on his head.  
Instantly the hat yelled out, "SLYTHERIN." 


End file.
